Before Thanksgiving I told you about the other November holiday: Doughvember.   I made my sourdough boule.  I got my sourdough starter rehydrated (a process that took three days).  By the time I got around to actually making the dough I became very busy in my personal life.  Everyone gets busy this time of year, so you understand, right?

Late Thanksgiving night, after everyone left my mom’s house and we got all cleaned up, I lugged my cooking tools back to my own apartment and mixed the dough for my sourdough bread.  It was late and I was tired, so I made the dough the way I learned in school:  mix the dough, knead until smooth and elastic, then refrigerate overnight.  The only difference in this method is that you add cold water to the yeast instead of warm so it doesn’t activate and go crazy right away.  So I mixed it all up, kneaded it for what felt like half an hour while my eyes were drooping, covered it in the fridge and went to bed — my kitchen a total mess.

I woke up the next day and had a meeting in L.A. to get to so I ignored my sourdough bread and headed for Los Angeles.  That afternoon and evening I was preparing for a dinner party with my aunt and uncle so I didn’t get home until late and was exhausted.  I walked in the door, dropped everything from my hands, and crawled into bed.

Saturday was the actual dinner party.  I had meeting number two in Los Angeles on Saturday morning then straight to my uncle’s to get started on cooking.  It was such a fun night; I posted the photos on Twitter.  I was, again, exhausted by the time I got home, but I felt I’d neglected my bread too long.  So I baked my sourdough bread that night.

If you’ve seen sourdough bread before you know it looks just a little different than the above photo.  I’m not exactly sure what happened, but I’m blaming the two-day refrigeration to which I subjected my rising dough.  It didn’t rise quite as much as it normally would, and it was difficult to shape.  The texture was just a little tougher and chewier than I like, but the smell during baking and the taste afterward were scrumptious.

My apartment smelled like warm sourdough bread for the rest of the night.  Mmm mmm mmmmmmm!

The best way to serve your sourdough bowl is with Baked Brie.

Sourdough Boule
This recipe will make one large boule (bowl) or two smaller ones.

4 ounces Water (warm if baking the sourdough bread the same day – cold if refrigerating overnight)
1/2 packet Instant Yeast (1 1/8 teaspoon)
5 ounces Sourdough Starter
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
8 ounces Bread Flour (plus more for dusting)

-Dissolve yeast in water in large mixing bowl, and let sit about ten minutes
-Add starter to water and mix
-Add flour in two batches
-Knead dough in bowl until it comes together
-Add salt and continue kneading
-Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface
-Knead until dough is smooth and elastic (this will take 5 – 10 minutes. Let the dough rest a few minutes about halfway through kneading)
-Form dough into a ball

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If baking dough same day:
-Place dough in a lightly oiled mixing bowl and cover with towel
-Let sit in a slightly warmer than room temperature location until doubled in size, about 2 hours

If baking dough next day:
-Place dough in a lightly oiled mixing bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap
-Refrigerate overnight
-Remove dough from fridge 30 minutes to one hour before proceeding to allow the dough to reach room temperature
-Dough will double in size overnight
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-Punch dough (you can actually punch it from the top, or just poke it. This will slightly deflate the dough)
-Divide the dough into two pieces or leave whole depending on the size of bowl you want
-Shape into a round or a loaf
-Cover dough with a large bowl turned upside down or other cover that will completely secure dough and leave room for dough to rise again
-Let dough sit at slightly-warmer-than-room-temperature until about doubled in size (approximately two hours)
-Preheat oven to 450*F
-Slash the tops of the dough with a sharp paring knife in a quick motion
-Bake in oven until golden brown (about 20 minutes)

The month of November has been dubbed “Doughvember” by the lovely ladies over at Pinch My Salt and Salty Seattle.  They have each created their own sourdough starters and, along with much of the blogosphere, have been creating scrumptious sourdough recipes and sharing them with us all.

I am finally joining the party!  Remember when I told you about IFBC?  Well, I got my hands on a bit of dried sourdough starter from Nicole of Pinch My Salt.  I finally got around to rehydrating it and, as of last night, it is ready to use.  I have only eight days of Doughvember left to play and create, but I have a sneaking suspicion I will continue well past that.

I followed Nicole’s directions to the letter and my cute little one-quart container is now full of sourdough starter that is filling a corner of my kitchen with the yummiest of warm, sour smells.  Come back next week when I share my basic sourdough boule and figure out how to replicate Thomas Keller’s sourdough waffles.

Dry sourdough starter with complete instructions from Pinch My Salt

Day One of rehydrating sourdough starter

Day Two of rehydrating sourdough starter

Day Three of rehydrating sourdough starter

My sourdough starter is finally ready to use!